why why why

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DiXoN

DiXoN

English MFKer
MFK Member
Sep 5, 2004
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Sunderland, England
ok so my ph from the tap is around 7.0 yet my tank water is usually around 6.5.
i was wanting to know why is this.
i was doing an experiment and seeing if my tank could go 2 weeks without water change and be ok which it was i only had nitrates of around 80-100 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and fed the sae as normal.
so i was going to do my water change today and add some new media to my filter an do a bit of maintenance.
i did a full test and my ph was 6.0 today so i only did a 25% water change instead of the 50% i was going to do so not to shock the fish.
why does my ph change so much and what can i do to combat this without using chemicals
 
rumblesushi said:
It's probably the large piece of driftwood you have in the tank, still leaking some tannic(?) acid.
Click to expand...


i had the same problem with the water before i added my big bogwood piece but i never let it go 2 weeks without water change before so never noticed the big drop.
i did have 3 smaller pieces in there though but these had been used for over a year.
i have only sand and 2 small rocks as decor and these rocks have been in use for around 2 years along with the sand.
the wood piece has not leached any tannins into the tank as it has not changed colour at all.
 
what kind of sand is it dixon that would be my guess i cant remember how to do it but a test with white vinegar can tell you if the sand or rock will lower or raise your ph ill search for it

here we go this may help
How to test for carbonates. Everyone you ask will recommend the old trick of putting a teaspoon of vinegar on a suspect rock; if it fizzes it's going to raise the pH. That would be clear enough, but what if it doesn't produce a bubble? Household vinegar may not work. You could put a suspect rock in a bucket with enough water just to cover the rock. Test the pH now and test again after a week or so. If the pH hasn't noticably risen, figure that the rock is "aquarium safe." If you have a nitrate test kit, you may also already have a better test than vinegar for lime content in rocks. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Nitrate Test contains two bottles of prepared solutions. Solution #1, labelled "Caution: contains hydrochloric acid," comes in a handy squeeze dropper bottle. If a drop or two on a candidate rock fizzes, or even bubbles, that rock would raise the pH in the aquarium.
 
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